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Here at UrbanToronto we take notice of nearly every move made by architects and engineers, as new buildings sprout throughout the region. Professionals in the fields of architecture, design and engineering, work day and night to undertake the daunting task of guiding our city through its most pronounced growth period in decades.
For all of our wealth however, poverty and hunger still affects many in the GTA. On Monday night, 18 architectural and engineering firms descended on the TD Centre to compete in the 14th annual CANstruction competition, a unique forum for design, architecture and engineering industries to unite and give back to the communities they help to design and build. Since 1999, teams of students and professionals have donated their time, skills and funds to build ingenious structures made of non-perishable food items. Before being disassembled and donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank, Toronto’s largest food bank, the structures are judged in a friendly competition.
The yearly event draws on some of the GTA’s brightest minds to raise public awareness about hunger in our growing city, while fostering creativity and leadership skills in student volunteers. With food donations historically peaking in the months leading up to Christmas, CANstruction was moved this year from its previous fall scheduling to early June, a historically slow time of year for food donations.
Since the inaugural Toronto event in 1999, more than 680,000 pounds of food has been donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank through CANstruction. The last event raised over 85,000 pounds of food for Daily Bread, placing Toronto second among the 200 cities world-wide that participate in the annual competition. In comparison, 50,000 cans of food were donated this year, weighing in at over 52,000 pounds.
For the competing teams, awards recognize a variety of factors, as opposed to just an aesthetics-based set of criteria. Projects are awarded for specific categories including the ‘Best Use of Labels’ award, which focuses on creative graphic possibilities, or the 'Best Meal' award, which is judged based on the variety and quality of the food items; and 'Structural Ingenuity' awarded for complexity of design.
This year’s winning displays, participants and jurors are listed below.
Jurors Favourite:
Turner Fleischer Architects Inc.
“TWO CANS” are better than one
Ernst & Young Tower
Structural Ingenuity:
BA Consulting Group
Hungry Humpty
Canadian Pacific Tower
Best Meal:
GHD
The Seasons Change, but the Need Remains
Canadian Pacific Tower
Best Use of Labels:
Hatch Mott MacDonald
CARE-ousel of Hope
Ernst & Young Tower
Honourable Mentions:
exp Services Inc.
Hunger is no Game!
TD Bank Tower
and
AECOM
CAN See No Hunger
Ernst & Young Tower
List of Participants:
AECOM
Arup Canada Inc.
BA Consulting Group
CORE Architects
Delcan Corporation
Diamond Schmitt Architects/ Blackwell Bowick Partnership
exp Services Inc.
GHD
Hatch
Hatch Mott MacDonald
HDR Architecture
Petroff Partnership Architects/ARK
Quadrangle Architects Limited
R. V. Anderson Associates Limited
Ryerson University: Department of Architectural Science
Stephenson Engineering Ltd.
TMIG | The Municipal Infrastructure Group Ltd.
Jury:
Eb Zeidler: Senior partner at Zeidler Partnership Architects
Edward Keenan: Senior editor at The Grid magazine
Mani Mani: Founder of Fishtnk Design Factory
Adrian Niman: Founder and executive chef of The Food Dudes
Barry Steinberg: Chief Executive Officer of Consulting Engineers of Ontario
This year’s 'Canstructures' will be on display for the public until June 8th, in the lobbies of the TD Bank, Ernst & Young, Royal Trust, and Canadian Pacific towers at 77 King Street West until June 8th, before being dismantled and donated to Daily Bread Food Bank.
